East 98 – West 82
The game was virtually over, the score lopsided and the final buzzer was about to put an end to last night’s WNBA All-Star Game at the Garden. And then something happened. The dames can dunk, too.
After a week of celebrating the past 10 years of women’s pro basketball, we got a glimpse of the future. For last night, the WNBA took a quantum leap forward as three separate players attempted four different dunks in the final seconds of the Eastern Conference’s 98-82 win.
First, Diana Taurasi went straight up the lane and was rejected on her dunk attempt by the front iron. Then Michelle Snow went up and caught the rim, the crowd slowly rising to its collective feet. Snow collected her rebound, went up again and finally jammed the ball with a reverse dunk that brought the house down with six seconds left in the game.
At the other end, Deanna Nolan went up but missed her dunk as the final buzzer sounded.
And, no, there were no trampolines anywhere on the court.
These girls can play, they can shoot and they can score. And last night, they showed they can jump like the boys can in a very John Landau-like, “I’ve seen the future of rock ‘n’ roll” moment.
“Dunking will be a part of our game in the near future,” Dawn Staley said. “I think within the next two years, the WNBA will be playing above the rim, and I think that’s going to be really enticing for a different fan base.” It was the first-ever All Star win for the East, which had lost all six previous games. Still, the theme of last night’s game was not so much looking back on 10 years of WNBA basketball as much as it was a peek down the road and what the league may look like 10 years from now.
“It just shows how far the game has come,” Katie Douglas of the Connecticut Sun said after leading the East with 16 points and earning MVP honors. “It’s a sign of where women’s basketball is headed.” Rookie Seimone Augustus led the West with 16 points, while the East got 13 from Cheryl Ford, 14 from Katie Smith, and 10 from both Lindsay Whalen and Taj McWilliams-Franklin.
Snow led all players with 11 rebounds in a game the East led by as many as 27 points.
Snow’s dunk was her first as a pro, and the second in an All-Star Game. Lisa Leslie jammed one home at last year’s event.
